Soccer fans all around the world are biting their nails as the Champions League is now in full swing. The tournament started its early stages in September of 2018. Currently, the Champions League is in the Round of 16 stage of the tournament. The Champions League is the toughest competition for professional club soccer in the world. The biggest teams in Europe compete for a chance to win the tournament and be crowned the best team in the world. It is the most watched annual sporting event worldwide, the final will be held on June 1st of this year.

The Nutley Girls Varsity Basketball Team is one of the most talked about sports teams at Nutley High School during the winter season. The team is coached by Mr. Larry Mitschow who is a physical education teacher at Nutley High School. This season, the three captains were seniors Courtney Wilde, Rebecca Granta, and Alaina Feaster. The team was more than just teammates. There were friendships that were made throughout the seasons. As Coach Mitschow said, “The team developed a special bond on and off the court. We had great team chemistry and enjoyed a lot of laughs this year.”

Nutley High School has many sports teams and clubs, but crew is one of the largest teams at the school. Crew is a team effort, a sport where all members are in sync on a physical and mental level. They come together as one machine, each student being a separate cog that the machine wouldn’t work without. All students are dedicated to the sport, being available at all times as well as needing to keep up academic standards. There’s a special bond between the students, their separate teams, and their coach.

The Nutley High School baseball team is preparing for, what could be, their best season in decades. Immediately following a record season, the team has a nearly full roster returning and they're hungry to take back what they let slip through their fingers a year ago.

Josh O’Neil, a returning varsity starter, has high hopes for both his team and himself this season. “We’re winning states, counties and everything else,” said O’Neil. “I expect nothing but success.”

Many high school student athletes experience extreme difficulty managing their workload along with their practices and game schedule. Some of these students also cram other things into their schedules like a job and school clubs and activities. These athletes often experience stress during their sport’s season. Some student athletes learn to manage their time on their own while others need guidance to get through their sports’ season in order to achieve success in all areas.

New York Yankees’ spring training started in late February, and the home runs and great plays are already adding up. The Yankees currently have a total of 14 wins during their pre-season and will continue spring training games through March 25. The regular season begins on March 28.

At the start of the NFL season, if someone were to say that Patrick Mahomes was going to be an all-star quarterback, they would probably have been laughed at. Now, if you even mention his name, everyone knows exactly who you are talking about and talks so highly of him. Twenty-three year old Patrick Mahomes, the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, is dominating the league and continued his promising season in the playoffs.

The Athletic Department at Nutley High School is run by Director of Athletics, Mr. Joe Piro. Helping to run the department behind scenes is Ms. Javanna Ritacco, assistant secretary to the Director of Athletics. Mr. Piro is in charge of all elements of the program and according to Ritacco is, “one of the best at this job.”

Every June, 60 young prospects receive the dream of a lifetime. While most tend to not pan out as well as they had hoped, some young players flourish in the limelight. During the 2018-19 NBA season, Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and DeAndre Ayton of the Phoenix Suns have been nothing short of spectacular.

On January 7, the NHS varsity softball team began their winter workouts for the upcoming 2019 season. Workouts are held at John H. Walker Middle School in Nutley, New Jersey. Each session is held from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Every year, the team begins preparing for tryouts through these workouts by practicing both hitting and fielding. Through competitive games to catching up with one another, fun is also incorporated into each session. Workouts are held every Monday until the week of tryouts, which is undetermined at this point.

At Nutley High School, some seniors’ athletic seasons are coming to a close, and many of the athletes will not see the field again. After playing a sport for four years with the same people, the athletes have created a bond with their teammates and coaches that will be with them forever. Some athletes will not be continuing their athletic career in college and their four years will come to an end.

November 14th is a very important and special day for athletes across the nation. This is the first National Signing Day of the year for seniors who are committing to a college. This means that athletes who have verbally committed to a college for a sport can sign a letter called the National Letter of Intent (NLI) and make their commitment official.

On September 28, the James Walker Park infield at Essex County Yanticaw Park in Nutley, New Jersey got an upgrade. There is no longer a clay infield and a turf outfield, but now the entire field is made of turf. Due to the weather conditions and the large number of teams that play at James Walker Park, it was time for the field to get repaired for the upcoming softball season. Along with Yanticaw Park, Essex County Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey, was repaired as well.

With the winter sports season coming into full swing, both the boys and girls basketball teams look to improve over last season. However, the first major step, is overcoming the brutal tryout week. For most players, this is the first step of their basketball careers. Others prospective athletes dread the awful running and intense workouts of the tryout process.. Varsity starters Jordan Swann and Abby Scheidel provide the inside scoop on their upcoming season, alongside Boys’ Head Coach Bob Harbison and Girls’ Head Coach Larry Mitschow.

Since last season’s impressive state playoff run, the boys varsity team started their season with a heartbreaking loss in overtime to Seton Hall Prep, one of the best teams in New Jersey. However, the team did not let that loss define their season. The Raiders would bounce back immediately and catch fire for the rest of the season leading them to a current record of 9-3 (4-2 in the conference) putting them in third place, but they are in a good position to overtake second.

The 21-year-old rookie, Gleyber Torres, got called up to play with the New York Yankees on April 21, 2018. He made his Major League debut on April 22, 2018. He is the New York Yankees' top prospect. They acquired him in a trade two years ago from the Chicago Cubs. The Yankees traded Aroldis Chapman to them and weren’t trading him without getting Torres back for him. He was doing really well down in triple A and he was ready to be called up to the MLB.

As the Nutley High School crew season came to an end, the athletes were nostalgic about how much their team accomplished this season. The crew team had three team captains, Meghan Mackle, who is currently a senior, Jen Ariola, who is currently a senior, and Danielle LaRosa who is currently a junior.

Looking At The World's Most Watched Sporting Event, The World Cup

Starting June 14, soccer fans from around the globe gather to support their nation in the World Cup soccer tournament. Four years ago, when Germany lifted the cup after edging out Argentina in a wild finals match, seems like a distant memory. It was 2014 then, and now years later, talent has come and gone, and the 32 teams who now represent the world’s soccer power gather to square off and prove why they are the best soccer team in the world.

For more than 30 years, Ms. Luann Zullo has been a high school softball coach. For 20 of those years, she has been the head coach of the Nutley High School girls' varsity softball team. “I have been coaching since I was in college,” Zullo states. She has had a passion for softball since she was a child and she thought coaching would be the best thing for her.